Open Arms Sunday Worship July 12, 2020

6th Sunday after Pentecost
Divine Service
July 12, 2020

Please click here for the video of this service.  

Welcome! 

Invocation

V:   In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit,

C:  AMEN

Opening Song:     Our God

Call to Worship                Psalm 65:8b-13

V:   You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

C:  You visit the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it;

V:   the river of God is full of water;

C:  You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it.

V:   You water its furrows abundantly,

C:  settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.

V:   You crown the year with Your bounty;

C:  Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

V:  The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

C:  the hills gird themselves with joy,

V:   the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain,

C:  they shout and sing together for joy.

Confession and Absolution

V:  In the today’s Epistle, Paul reminds us that “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  So, children, let’s go to our gracious heavenly Father, and confess our sins.

Silent confession of your sins

V:  In the Old Testament Reading, God promises, “My word . . . shall not return to Me empty; it shall accomplish . . . and shall succeed.”
C:  But Father, we don’t trust You in all things.  We have sinned in thought, word, and deed.    Forgive us, heavenly Father.

V:  Then God tells us, “You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.”

C:  But how will we go in joy and peace?  We are captive to sin and can’t free ourselves.  Heavenly Father, hear us, free us, and lead us in paths pleasing to You.

V:  By the grace of God, we know that Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh, destroyed death and rose in victory, for us!  For Jesus’ sake, God forgives you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the ✠  Son and of the Holy Spirit.   May God’s Word, planted inside you in your baptism, produce a great harvest for our gracious Lord.

C:  Amen. 

Old Testament Reading      Isaiah 55:10-13

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

“For you shall go out in joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

shall break forth into singing,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall make a name for the Lord,

an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” 

V:   This is the Word of the Lord.

C:  Thanks be to God.

Epistle Reading                   Romans 8:12–1

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba!  Father!”  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 

V:   This is the Word of the Lord.

C:  Thanks be to God.

Holy Gospel                           Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

V:   The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 13^th chapter.

C:  Glory to You, O Lord
     That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.  And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.  And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.  Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears, let him hear.”

     “Hear then the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.  This is what was sown along the path.  As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,  yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.  As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.  He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” 
V:   This is the Word of the Lord.

C:  Praise to You, O Christ.

Song:               You Say

Sermon

The Nicene Creed
  I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things
     visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Prayers of the Church

The Sacrament of the Altar

Rite of Farewell & Godspeed for Vicar Mark

Benediction

Announcements  

Closing Song:       Take My Life

Open Arms Sunday Worship July 5, 2020

5th Sunday after Pentecost
Divine Service
July 5, 2020

Please click here for the video of this service.  

Welcome! 

Invocation

V:   In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit,

C:  AMEN

Opening Song:     Great Are Your Works

Call to Worship                Psalm 146

V:   Praise the Lord!

C:  Praise the Lord, O my soul!

V;   I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

C:  I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

V;   Put not your trust in princes,

C:  in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

V:   When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

C:  on that very day his plans perish.

V:   Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

C:  whose hope is in the Lord his God,

V:   who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,

C:  who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed,

V:   who gives food to the hungry.

C:  The Lord sets the prisoners free;

V:   the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

C:  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

V:   the Lord loves the righteous.

C:  The Lord watches over the sojourners;

V:   he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

C:  but the way of the wicked He brings to ruin.

V:   The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations.

C:  Praise the Lord!

Confession and Absolution

V:   St. Paul describes us perfectly in our Epistle lesson, which we'll hear in a few minutes.  We don’t do the good we want to do.   And we do the bad things we don’t want to do!  Like Paul, wretched people we are!  We are seduced by the devil, the world and our own sinful natures.  Every day we give in, every day we sin.   Our thoughts, our words and our actions go against God’s law and His will for our lives.

         O God, deliver me from this body of death!       

Silent confession of your sins

V:   We confess together:

C:  For the sake of Jesus, Your Son and our Savior, forgive our sins, and create new hearts in us.  Amen

V:   Who will deliver us?  Who has already delivered us?  Paul answers for us:  “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Jesus Christ has delivered you!  Jesus Christ has set you free from the punishment for your sins requires.  In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit, your sins are forgiven & you’re free indeed!

C:  Amen. 

Sit

Old Testament Reading      Zechariah 9: 9-12

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

     Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

     righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

     on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

     and the war horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

     and he shall speak peace to the nations;

his rule shall be from sea to sea,

     and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

     I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

     today I declare that I will restore to you double.

V:   This is the Word of the Lord.

C:  Thanksbe to God.

Epistle Reading                   Romans 7:14-25a

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.  For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.   For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

V:   This is the Word of the Lord.

C:  Thanks be to God.

Stand

Holy Gospel                           Matthew 11:25-30

V:   The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 11^th chapter.

C:  Gloryto You, O Lord.

 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

V:   This is the Word of the Lord.

C:  Praise to You, O Christ.

Sit

Song:               Cry Out to Jesus

Sermon

Stand

The Apostles’  Creed             

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,  maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,

     who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,  was crucified, died and was buried.   He descended into hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

 I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.    Amen.

Prayers of the Church

V:   …after each petition:  Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

The Sacrament of the Altar

V:   The Lord be with you.

C:   and also with you.

V:   Lift up your hearts!

C:  we lift them to the Lord!

V:   Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.

C:  it is right to give Him thanks and praise.

V:   Let us pray…

C:  Amen

Words of Institution

V:   As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

C:  Amen!    Come, Lord Jesus.

V:   O Lord Jesus Christ, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:

C:  Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

V:   The peace of the Lord be with you always.

C:  Amen.

Communion Distribution      

Communion Dismissal

V:   This body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and keep you in the one true faith to life everlasting.  Depart ✠ in peace.

C:  Amen

Post-Communion Prayer

V:   Let us pray…

C:  Amen.

     

Benediction

Sit        Announcements

Closing Song:       How Great is Your Love